Tape handling apparatus

ABSTRACT

Tape handling apparatus includes two or more decks arranged in spaced overlapping relationship, each deck including a tape processing arrangement, and means for driving the processing arrangement extending though the overlapping portions of the decks. The drive means include clutch elements which provide drive connections between adjacent decks, so that all of the tape processing arrangements, can be driven from a single source of drive. Where more than two decks are provided they can be hinged together so that the adjacent decks can be easily separated without breaking the drive between other decks.

United States Patent 1191 Hamilton-Fey [54] TAPE HANDLING APPARATUS [75] Inventor: John Hamilton-Fey, Letchworth,

England [73] Assignee: International Computers Limited,

London, England [22] Filed: May 21, 1971 [211 App]. No.: 145,686

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data June 16, 1970 Great Britain "29,065/70 [52] US. Cl. ..242/180, 242/194, 242/201, 274/4 D [51] Int. Cl. ..G03b 1/04, G1 lb 15/32 [58] Field of Search ..242/194, 197-204, 242/180; 274/4 R, 4 D, 11 R; 179/1002 E,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,560,234 7/1951 Masterson ..l79/100.2 E

1 1 Apia.v 3, 1973 3,140,360 I /1964 Whitworth ..242/1s0 x Primary ExaminerLeonard D. Christian Attorney-Misegades & Douglas, George R. Douglas, Jr. and Keith Misegades [57] ABSTRACT 4 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure apparatus and in particular to apparatus for handling tapes as, for example, information recording tape.

SUMMARY or THE INVENTION According to the present invention there is provided tape handling apparatus including at least two tape processing decks connectable together in overlapping arrangement in such manner that operational drive can be transmitted from deck to deck from a single source of drive. Where more than two decks are provided they may be hinged together on a common hinge axis parallel to one edge so that the decks of adjacent pairs of decks may be separated without disturbing the drive connections between unseparated decks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Apparatus embodying the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, which is a diagrammatic view of a tape handling apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT of coded perforations. The tape 17 from the spool 16 will have been perforated, but for the purpose of the present description the perforations are not shown in is free to pivot on the pins 8 so that its front corners rest upon the blocks 9 when the deck 2 is in the closed position. Spring clips 10 on the blocks 9 co-operate with pins 11 on the framework 5 to retain the deck 2 in the closed position. It will be appreciated that for convenience of illustration the deck 2 is shown in the drawing as raised from the closed position so that the decks 1 and 2 are separated.

A third deck 3 includes a framework 6, and the framework 6 has angle brackets 12 provided at its rear corners. The brackets 12 project downwardly from the framework 6, the lower ends of the brackets 12 also being pivoted on pins 8. In the same manner as is the case with decks 1 and 2,.the decks 2 and 3 are supported in a closed position by blocks 13 at the front cornersof the upper surface of the deck 2, the front corners of the deck 3 resting upon the blocks 13 when in the closed position. Spring clips 14 on the blocks 13 co-operate with pins 15 on the framework 6 to retain the decks 2 and 3 in the closed position, the uppermost deck 3 being separable from the deck 2 by releasing the clips. 14 from the pins 15 and raising the deck 3. The deck 3 then pivots about the pins 8 man open position as indicated in the drawing.

In the example illustrated each of the decks 1, 2, 3 is arranged to perform a different processing operation on a tape. Thus, for example, the deck 1 is a reading deck. A spool 16 carries a supply of tape 17. The tape 17 is a paper tape such as telegraph tape used, for example, for the recording of information items by means the drawing. The tape 17 from the spool 16 passes along a predetermined path defined by guides 18 past a reading head arrangement 19 which senses the perforations to read the information items from the tape 17. From the head 19 the tape 17 passes to a take-up spool 20.

The tape 17 is driven in a conventional manner by means of a drive source shown as an electric motor 21 supported beneath the deck 1. The motor 21 drives a shaft 22 which extends through a bearing 23 in the deck 1 to the upper side of the deck 1. The spools 16 and 20 are provided with conventional driving arrangements which include pulleys 24 and belts 25 beneath the deck 1. The upper end of the shaft 22 carried a plate 26 constituting one half of a dog clutch, the plate having a pair of upwardly projecting lugs 27.

The deck 2 is a punching deck and carries on its upper surface (not shown) a similar-tape feeding arrangement to that carried by the deck I, with the exception that the reading head 19 of the deck 1 is replaced by a punching head 28. The tape driving arrangements for the deck 2 include a drive shaft 29 supported in a bearing 30 and projecting through the deck 2. The lower end of thevshaft 29 carries a plate 30A which constitutes the other half of the dog clutch which co-operates with the plate 26 of deck 1, and which has a pair of grooves 31 to accommodate the lugs 27 of the plate 26 when the deck 2 is closed to the deck 1. It will be realized that the dispositions and projections of the shafts 22 and 29 from their respective decks are arranged so that the two halves of the dog clutch mate when the decks 1 and 2 are closed together. The shaft 29 of the deck 2 carries, in a similar manner to the shaft 22 of the deck 1, pulleys 32 which provide a drive, by means of belts 33 to the supply and take-up spools (not shown) of the punching deck 2. The upper end of the drive shaft 29 of the deck 2 also carries a dog clutch plate (not shown) similar to the plate 26 of the shaft 22 of deck 1.

The deck 3 is a rewind deck and carries on its upper surface a fixed spool spindle (not shown) and a highspeed re-wind spindle 34. The spindle 34 is mounted in a bearing 35 carried by the deck 3 and projects through to the underside of the deck 3. The spindle 34 carries a pulley 36 driven by a belt 37 from a further pulley 38 mounted on a deck main drive shaft 39. The shaft 39 is mounted in a bearing 40, carried by the deck 3, and carries, on the underside of the deck 3 a clutch plate 41 having a pair of grooves 42. The plate 41 is so positioned that, when the deck is closed to the deck 2, the grooves 42 accommodate lugs formed in the dog clutch plate (not shown) carried on the upper end of the shaft 29 of the deck 2.

It will be realized that the foregoing arrangements permit the apparatus'described to be used in a number of ways. For example, with all three decks closed together, a single drive motor is used to provide a drive to all three decks, the clutching arrangements described connecting the drive between adjacent decks. The apparatus also provides a simple means for separating adjacent decks without disturbing the drive connections between unseparated decks. The separation of the decks in the way described also permits ready access to the individual decks for loading and unloading the tape spools, and for maintenance and inspection of the apparatus. Equally, it is possible to use the apparatus with one or more of the upper decks disconnected from the drive. Thus, for example, the lowermost deck 1 may be used on its own as a reading deck. Decks 1 and 2 may be used together, in conjunction with conventional control circuitry for performing a verification operation in which a tape is punched on deck 2 while being compared with a previously punched tape being read on deck 1, punching being inhibited if a discrepancy exits between the pre-recorded punching and input information to the deck 2. Alternatively the decks 1 and 2 may be closed together and only the upper deck used for punching while the lower deck is unused, or the lower deck may be used for a completely separate reading operation.

Again, all three decks may be coupled together and deck 3 may then be used for rewinding operation in conjunction with or independently of processing operations being performed on one or both of the other decks. For example, the rewind deck 3 may be used for rewinding operation in conjunction with, say deck 2, by the provision of a transfer guide 44 clipped to the forward edge of deck 3. In this operation a previously punched tape would be held on the take-up spool of deck 2. For the purpose of illustration this spool may be imagined as corresponding to the spool shown on deck 1. The trailing end of the punched tape would then be led out of a guideway 45 from deck 2. The decks 2 and 3 would be closed together and both closed to deck 1 in order to obtain drive to the upper decks 2 and 3. The tape end projecting from the guideway 45 of deck 2 would then be passed over an angled roller 46 on the lower end of the transfer guide 44, over another angled roller 47 on the upper end of the guide 44, and would be taken to an empty spool mounted on the rewind spindle 34 of deck 3. The apparatus described used a common hingeing axis for the three decks l 3. This has the advantage that the drive connections between any pair of adjacent decks that are latched in the closed position are not disturbed when any other pair of adjacent decks are separated into the open position. However, it will be appreciated that although this form of construction is preferred for a group of decks, such as are described, it is not essential for the decks to be hinged. For example, the coupling of the drives to a group of overlapped decks may also be achieved by providing, for example, locating pins or lugs on decks which are separated by being completely removed from one another. Equally, it is not necessary that the lowermost deck should carry the drive motor. The common motor may, for example, be carried on a motor support subframe, and the lowermost deck would then be fitted with a clutch member similar to the plate 30 shown on deck 2 to enable it to be clutched to the drive when it is in position on the sub-frame. This form of construction has the advantage that what would be the lowermost deck of a group may be completely withdrawn in the event of a break-down, for example, without of necessity putting the other decks of the group out of action.

Finally, although the decks l 3 have been described each as performing a particular processing operation different from all the others, it will be realized that although this is convement, IS is not essential. Nor, of

course, is it essential that even where the decks of a group all perform different processing operations respectively that they should be stacked in the order illustrated in the drawing.

I claim:

1. Tape handling apparatus including at least two tape processing decks each having tape processing means, means for supporting the decks adjacent one another in at least partially superposed relationship, a rotatable member in the superposed part of each of the decks, drive means connectable to one of said rotatable members, an end portion on each rotatable member facing towards an adjacent deck, coupling means on said end portion, the coupling means of the facing end portions of the rotatable members of adjacent decks being readily releasably connectable to transmit drive between the decks, and means for transmitting the drive from each rotatable member to the tape processing means of the same deck.

2. Tape handling apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said drive means is carried on one of said decks and is connected to the tape processing means of that deck and to the rotatable member of that deck.

3. Tape handling apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and in which each coupling means of a deck includes a rotatable shaft extending to opposite sides of its associated deck to provide a projecting part on each side; a clutch unit portion on each said part, each said clutch portion coupling with the clutch portion of an adjacent deck to transmit drive from deck-to-deck, and means for transmitting drive from the shaft to the tape processing means.

4. Tape handling apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and including means pivotally connecting adjacent decks together for pivotal movement between a closed position in which the coupling means of the adjacent decks inter-engage to transmit drive and an open position in which the coupling means of the adjacent decks are disengaged.

a a w a n- 

1. Tape handling apparatus including at least two tape processing decks each having tape processing means, means for supporting the decks adjacent one another in at least partially superposed relationship, a rotatable member in the superposed part of each of the decks, drive means connectable to one of said rotatable members, an end portion on each rotatable member facing towards an adjacent deck, coupling means on said end portion, the coupling means of the facing end portions of the rotatable members of adjacent decks being readily releasably connectable to transmit drive between the decks, and means for transmitting the drive from each rotatable member to the tape pRocessing means of the same deck.
 2. Tape handling apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said drive means is carried on one of said decks and is connected to the tape processing means of that deck and to the rotatable member of that deck.
 3. Tape handling apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and in which each coupling means of a deck includes a rotatable shaft extending to opposite sides of its associated deck to provide a projecting part on each side; a clutch unit portion on each said part, each said clutch portion coupling with the clutch portion of an adjacent deck to transmit drive from deck-to-deck, and means for transmitting drive from the shaft to the tape processing means.
 4. Tape handling apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and including means pivotally connecting adjacent decks together for pivotal movement between a closed position in which the coupling means of the adjacent decks inter-engage to transmit drive and an open position in which the coupling means of the adjacent decks are disengaged. 